FSBA Daily Updates: Legislative Session 03-11-2016

TODAY’S HAPPENINGSThe Legislature has adjourned, sine die, after passing the state budget and related appropriations bills as well as a lengthy list of education related bills. With regard to the education budget, we are working on our detailed analysis of the education portions of the budget but, in the meantime, we have prepared a side-by-side comparison of the highlights of the current year education funding with allocations in the 2016-2017 budget. This document, and related information, including the Legislature’s FEFP Funding Summary, are posted on the FSBA website in our Legislative Session Resource Center available at http://fsba.org/2016-legislative-session-resource-center/. (Direct link to budget highlights: http://fsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/06-BudgetHighlights.pdf)

With regard to education legislation, the most significant education related bill that was considered and passed today was HB 7029 relating to school choice programs and education funding. The bill was passed back and forth between the House and Senate a few times before a final version was agreed upon. Among many other topics, this bill addresses charter schools operating and capital outlay issues, controlled open enrollment; athletics and other extracurricular activities, the ESE Guaranteed allocation, SREF flexibility, the Special Facility Construction Account program, VPK programs, and membership association dues. We are working on detailed summaries of all of the education legislation that passed, but, in the meantime, we have posted a preliminary list of education related bills that passed in our Legislative Session Resource Center at http://fsba.org/2016-legislative-session-resource-center/ (Direct link to Enrolled Bill list: http://fsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Bill-Tracking-Enrolled.3.11.16.pdf)

We hope to complete our annual FSBA Legislative Session Summary next week and will alert you when it is posted on the FSBA website. In addition, please remember that we have scheduled a series of onsite Legislative Session Review Workshops and online Webinars that will begin on Monday, March 21, 2016. These Workshops and Webinars are free of charge and we encourage you to attend at the time and location most convenient for you. For times, locations, and registration information please go the FSBA website at http://fsba.org/fsba-legislative-session-review-workshops/.

This is our last DAILY Update for this Session, but we will continue to send periodic updates over the next few weeks to keep you up to date on potential bill and budget vetoes and other legislative activities. In addition, we will provide our last Weekly Video Update next week to give you a final wrap-up of the 2016 Legislative Session. We hope you have found our Daily Updates and Weekly Video Updates useful and welcome your feedback on how we can improve our communications to better meet your needs during the 2017 Legislative Session.